Should traitors get more Uplink Points for completing objectives?

[aft2001]

This thread's purpose is to discuss the title - should traitors who complete assigned tasks be rewarded with additional Points to spend?

The exact methodology of winning new points can vary, from having a static list of objectives given at roundstart (thus only a limited number of rewarded Points) to having a contract system to whatever. What matters the most is: Should traitors be able to get more Points?

I would personally be in support of a play test for this concept as it seems like a potentially viable mechanic - incentivizing players to do traitorous deeds (not necessarily rampaging, of course - it's hard to steal things when the entire station is hunting you down).

I feel like this should be an entirely optional system, with players who are interested in running their own gimmick having the standard 12 Points, nothing more and nothing less. But, for those who would like to have some possible great rewards in exchange for great risk, I see this as a potentially fantastic concept.

[cyberTripping]

I feel it's worth mentioning that, unless I'm mistaken, there's a number of costs which are specifically designed in such a way to make getting two items together impossible outside of surplus crate rng. Anything which allows getting more points risks opening up combinations of traitor items which were never intended to happen. The stun from a wrestling belt/football kit/bowling kit into port-a-puke murder, for instance. I believe the c-saber (and by extension, the katana) were made to cost 7 points so you couldn't take them with an emag, as well.

[UrsulaMejor]

I don't support adding any method to gain more TC as base traitor, for the reasons CT already stated. This would absolutely lead to snowball conditions where items get combined that weren't meant to be combined.

in addition, many objectives are reversible, and you cannot un-redeem an item that a traitor bought with TC because their assassination target got cloned.

This stuff is best reserved for stuff like Spy, where the entire game mode is balanced around the concept of earning more items over time.

[Caecilius]

TG managed to make a similar thing work, despite them having a few arguably even more broken combos (sleeping carp scroll + gloves of the North Star being a standout, being able to take someone from full health to dead in under three seconds in melee combat, stunning them the whole time whilst also granting total immunity to ranged attacks), so it could work with some effort.

After some thought, I've come up with a suggestion: the mini spy uplink. It would cost 6 TC by itself, ruling out taking any of the major rampage items besides the cloaker or the revolver. It would work like a regular spy PDA, but in a syndicate radio uplink form, which can also switch to an item uplink as well. You would be given a set of spy thief bounties in it, which would reward 1-3 TC instead of an item each, which could be spent in the item uplink. The item uplink within would have certain items removed from it (i.e. The ones that would cause balance issues) and some other fun surplus crate items added like banana grenades or the police baton. This setup allows for a high risk, high reward approach for traitors. You get the uplink and your bounties, then spend your remaining six as you see fit, before trying to get another twelve via the bounties. If you do well, you get some extra items with which you can do your regular objectives or gimmick with, but if you do poorly you lose the initial six TC you put in because it's a radio uplink and so very obvious if you get searched.

[Technature]

You don't know why things are priced the way they are until you're wrestled to death by someone you can't see.

It sucks dealing with shit like that and making it possible outside of random chance is not something I'm okay with.

[Haprenti]

One solution to the broken combos could be restricting items.
"If you buy this item, those items become unavailable" with some message about them being fresh out of stock or something when you try to buy one, or the syndicate Tist The list of items that will go out of stock can be in the "about" description.

This solution also allows to bring back things like old pipebombs. You can buy one, at their old price, but can't spend all your TCs on them.
Or could allow to add objects that would little TCs but would become broken if combined with other items they would otherwise be able to afford.

[phyvo]

I agree with the other problems people already pointed out. Balancing it would be a pain in the arse however you slice it since current items are balanced around 12 points. And "I accumulate more traitor items by completing objectives" is the core of current spy thief. Allowing traitors to get extra points in the same fashion just craps on the design space of the spy thief mode. Some people already dislike spy thief for feeling like a bad traitor, do you want to make that problem worse? Why don't we try to improve spy thief instead?